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Germany Turns to Allies to Thaw U.S. Relations
Wednesday, September 25, 2002
By Tony Czuczka
Associated Press Writer

The two allies, whose friendship deepened as Germany sat on the front lines in the Cold War, have split over Bush’s doctrine that allies “are either with us or with the enemy” in the war on terrorism--which extends to Iraq. Schroeder, however, has a more nuanced view. While remaining adamant that Germany is committed to the war on terrorism, Schroeder says a war on Iraq is a mistake that would alienate moderate Arab states.

BERLIN -- AP
Rebuffed with an icy response from Washington to his narrow re-election victory, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder looked for help from his European partners Tuesday to get back into President Bush’s good graces.

In a two-pronged diplomatic effort, Schroeder traveled to London to meet Prime Minister Tony Blair, the United States’ most reliable ally on Iraq, as his defense minister, meeting NATO counterparts in Poland, offered that Germany take command of international security forces in Afghanistan.

Schroeder’s trip to London was the first step on a longer diplomatic journey toward normalizing relations with the United States, one of Germany’s closest allies. So far, President Bush has dismissed Schroeder’s overtures and has broken protocol by not sending the standard congratulations on the chancellor’s re-election.

The leaders will get their first chance to meet face-to-face since the tensions erupted at a NATO summit Nov. 21-22. But Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer could prepare the ground with a visit to the United States planned in the next 10 days, a State Department official said Tuesday.
(More: The Chicago Sun-Times News Source)
2002 © The Associated Press.

Dan